In Closing Opposition, BPP A ran an economics extension in the Final. photo credit: Justin Kirk

Debating as KCL A, Darion and Sam proposed that “Assuming it could be done peacefully, this House would replace all existing governments with a single global democratic government.” In Opening Opposition was Tel Aviv AD (Dan Lahav, Ayal Hayut-Man); in Closing Government was Cambridge A (Matt Hazell, AlasdairDonovan); and in Closing Opposition was BPP A (MuhammadAsadullah Khan, Steven Rajavinothan)

Adjudicating the Open Final was Sophie Large in the chair, with Evan Lynyak, Josh Bailey, Syed Saddiq, Ben Dory, Joe Mayes, and Owen Mooney.

Tel Aviv was luckier in the ESL Final, however, where Tel Aviv NT (Noam Dahan, Tom Manor) were recognized ESL Champions on the motion “This House would ban the creation of all artificial conscious beings.” Their extension on consciousness and the creation of false narratives of choice by AI beat Opening Government GUU GB (Matej Ballatey, Noemie Gauthier), Opening Opposition HSE Moscow (Danil Kustin, Ivan Velentey), and Closing Government IIUM A (Khalis bin Khalid, Shitab Daiyan Akash).

The panel of the ESL Final was chaired by Kaity Crowe and included Brian Wong, Debi Ogunrinde,Dhruva Bhat, Bexley Brown, and Floris Hostelge.

An American school won the Novice Final, representing yet another continent attending the prestigious tournament. Stanford PS (Lorenzo Mariano de la Puente, Jasmine Sun) won from on the motion that “This House would require all sold products to clearly display their price in Dead Children Currency,” competing against Cambridge JT (Jin Hsi Gabriel Tan, Joy Jia) in Opening Government, Stanford RY (Vivian Yang, Arjun Ramani) in Opening Opposition, and Cornell C(Ajay Kunapuli, Jin Mo Koo) in Closing Opposition.

The tournament featured a roast hog, an Irish intervention, and a well-run tab. A workshop on rebuttal was led by Chief Adjudicator Sella Nevo prior to round 1.

The motions:

Round 1: THW provide means-tested welfare in the form of basic goods and services (including vouchers), rather than cash payments.

Round 2: THBT twitter has done more harm than good

Round 3: Info Slide: Asian Values is a political movement which prioritises collective economic and social improvement over concepts of individual human rights and liberal democracy. These values include a preference for social harmony, concern with socio-economic prosperity and the collective well-being of the community, loyalty and respect towards figures of authority, and preference for collectivism and communitarianism. China, Singapore and Hong Kong.

TH Prefers Asian Values to Western liberalism

Round 4: Info Slide: A bond issued by a country’s government, is a commonly used financial instrument promising to repay borrowed money a fixed rate of interest at a specified time. It is the primary method governments use to finance their activity.

The Venezuelan government has long been criticised for its human rights record, mismanagement of the centralised economy (including the state-owned oil company, PDVSA) and running large unsustainable budget deficits. This has contributed its current state of economic crisis, including hyperinflation, food shortages and difficulties paying back its debt.

Round 5: THBT minority parents should shelter their children from the existence of racism for as long as possible

Novice Final: Info Slide: For the purposes of this debate, saving the life of a child via charity costs approximately 1000$. A “Dead Children Currency” is the cost of an item, translated into the number of children that could be saved from death using that amount of money. Thus, a brand new sedan might cost about 28 dead children, a meal at a nice restaurant might cost about 2 dead child cents, and a 320,000$ luxury doghouse costs about 320 dead children.

THW require all sold products to clearly display their price in Dead Children Currency.

ESL Semifinals: Info Slide: Poland’s ruling right-wing Law and Justice party have begun to enact reforms designed to curtail the independence of the judiciary and the free press. The EU has the ability, by qualified majority vote (55% of EU states, representing 65% of the EU population), to suspend the voting rights of other Member States who have breached fundamental rights.

THBT that the EU should suspend the voting rights of Poland.

ESL Finals: Info Slide: For the sake of this debate, consciousness is any subjective experience (including sensory experiences, feelings, thoughts and desires). It is everything that we assume humans experience, but forks do not. Hypothetical Slide: research of AI and the nature of consciousness has advanced to the extent that we are now capable of enabling or disabling consciousness in all our artificial intelligences and robots. Enabling consciousness does not change the behavior or decisions of said robot in any way – only allows them to subjectively experience what they’re going through, rather than being mechanical machines “with the lights out”.

THW ban the creation of all artificial conscious beings.

Open Quarterfinals:
THR the creation and adoption of cryptocurrencies.

Open Semifinals: Info Slide: Mohammed bin Salman is the de facto leader of the ruling House of Saud and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He advocates a policy platform that includes: Diversification of the Saudi economy Privatisation of part of the state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco Incremental social and political liberalisation, particularly in relation to women Marginalisation of hard-line religious influence in favour of moderate Islam

THBT Mohammed bin Salman’s policies are in the interests of the ruling House of Saud.

Open Final: Assuming it could be done peacefully, THW replace all existing governments with a single global democratic government.